


A Story Of Firsts

by SamTheChangeling



Category: Psych
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Drabble, Gen, Happy Ending, One Shot, Psych - Freeform, Trans Male Character, Trans Shawn, Transphobia, i guess, oh well, there's not as much dialogue in this as I'd like, this is mostly set in high school so, very brief transphobia, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 06:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7879435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamTheChangeling/pseuds/SamTheChangeling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up, Shauna always knew she felt different than other girls her age.<br/>or: four times Shawn came out to Gus, and one time Gus helped him come out</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Story Of Firsts

i.  
The first time Shauna says she feels different, Gus assumes that it will pass. They're in the seventh grade, they're still young, and Gus assumes that there's plenty of time for them to figure out who they are. If he's being honest with himself, he expected Shauna to go through phases like this.  
What he didn't expect, however, was for her to come to school one day with a choppy, uneven haircut, almost as short as his.  
She showed it off proudly. "Well, what do you think?" she asked, grinning, with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out with pride.  
"It's a good look on you," Gus says offhandedly, which both excites and disappoints Shauna. Exciting, because Gus didn't tell her she'd looked prettier with her long hair, and disappointing, because she was expecting a bigger reaction.  
She decided not to push her luck.

ii.  
The second time Shauna says she feels different, it's the first time she comes to school with a flat chest. They were in 9th grade, and it completely caught Gus off guard. He'd noticed that she had a way of doing that. It's also the first time Gus realises the way she's feeling probably isn't just a phase.  
After a little prompting, Gus got her to admit that she found an old ace bandage in her medicine cabinet, and decided to try wrapping her chest with it. ("SHAUNA!" "Yeah?" "Do you have ANY idea how dangerous that is?" "Well, Gus, it was all I could find!")  
With a little more prompting, he got her to agree to let him order her a proper chest binder online, if he promised to ship it to his house, and not hers. If her dad found it, she'd never hear the end of it, she says, and Gus agrees.  
When it ships to his house three weeks later, Gus brings it to school, and Shauna tries it on in the bathroom in the morning before classes. Looking herself over in the full body mirror, she decided that her chest looked flatter than it had ever been, and she stepped out to show Gus, who nodded approvingly.  
She'd sure as hell never admit to the fact that she teared up. 

iii.  
The first time Shawn introduces himself as Shawn, Gus can't say he was caught off guard.  
They're in a convenience store, and they're both hitting it off with the cashier. When asked their names, before Gus could say anything, his friend blurted out, "My name is Shawn, and this is Gus!"  
What neither of them were expecting was the cashier to eye Shawn from head to toe and say, "Shawn? What? That's a boy's name."  
"Well, considering that I'm a boy, having a boy's name would make sense," Shawn says smoothly. The cashier narrows his eyes, and asks, "if you're a boy, why is your voice so high? You a fag or something?"  
Shawn takes a step back, towards the door. "Listen. I'm not looking for any trouble-"  
"Cause fags aren't allowed in this store," the cashier spits, "but that's not what you are, are you? Cause let me tell you, you strike me as a fucking tranny."  
The insult makes the colour drain from Shawn's face, and Gus pulls him out of the store before either of them can say another word.  
Later on, in the first time they actually sat down and talked about how he felt, Gus assures a sobbing Shawn that yes, he's still a boy, and yes, he's loved, and yes, he's still a boy, yes, he'll always be a boy if that's what he feels like.  
Shawn had never been more grateful for Gus than he was in that moment.

iv.  
The second time Shawn introduces himself as Shawn, it was at a GSA meeting for their high school that he'd dragged Gus to in 10th grade. Gus, wanting to support his best friend however he could, went along. Ever since he bought Shawn the chest binder that he still had, and used daily, he'd been doing more research on other people who felt the way Shawn did. He came across the term transgender, ran it by Shawn, and they both agreed, that's what he was. He knew Shawn just wanted to meet some likeminded people, and in their high school of over 3,000 students, they both knew there *had* to be somebody there like him.  
When Shawn meets somebody there named Juliet, who - although not transgender - was what Shawn referred to as an absolute raging lesbian, Shawn started to feel a little less alone in his identity. 

i.  
The first time Shawn comes out to his father, he makes sure that he has both Gus and Juliet there with him. He figures, there's no way in hell he could get through this without the support of his closest friend and his second closest friend. He and Juliet had grown a lot closer over the past few months, and with both of their prompting, Shawn decided it was time he finally tell his father - who had been questioning him lately about his flat chest and the fact that he kept cutting his own hair ("Jesus, Shauna, just let me take you to a barber") - who he really was.  
When Shawn's father assured him that it would take some getting used to, but he'd try his hardest to call Shawn the right name, call him his son, said he loved him no matter what and, although he could be a pain in the ass, he just wanted him to be happy, Gus thought that it was finally Shawn's turn to be caught off guard. He knew Shawn wasn't expecting his father to be supportive, but as his father hugged him, Shawn teared up, and looked at Gus with a look that said, 'maybe everything will be okay after all.'


End file.
